Basting guide



M i 1951 H. E. CHRISTENSON 2,553,631

BASTING cum:

Filed Oct. 28, 1949 I f 1 W07 Patented May 22, 1951 UNITED STATES BASTING GUIDE.

Hazel E. Christenson, Minneapolis, Minn.

Application October 28, 1949, Serial No. 124,219

1 Claim. 1

My invention relates generally to sewing guides and, more specifically, to guides for use in bastmg.

In the basting together of twopieces of material, it is essential to maintain the basting stitches at a uniform distance from the free edges of the material; and it is the primary object of my invention to provide an inexpensive and efficient guide which will greatly facilitate this objective.

A still further object of my invention is the provision of a device of the class described which is formed from a single sheet of resilient material folded upon itself in U-shape to provide diverging side members adapted to receive therebetween the fabric to be basted and which may be held between the thumb and forefinger of one hand of the sewer and advanced at will by said operator by releasing the pressure exerted on the side members.

A still further object of my invention is the provision of a sewing guide having thereon a plurality of guiding edges, whereby said device may be utilizedto baste more than one distance from the free ends of the material.

The above and still further objects of my invention will become apparent from the following detailed specification, appended claim, and attached drawings.

Referring to the drawings, wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of my novel device;

Fig. 2 is a view in plan showing my novel device in operation upon material being basted;

Fig. 3 is a view in section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a view corresponding to Fig. 3, but showing a different position of some of the parts.

Referring with greater particularity to the drawings, the numeral 1 indicates, in its entirety, my novel guide, preferably formed from a fiat sheet of generally rectangular resilient material bent upon itself to provide a pair of matching side members which, as shown particularly in Fig. 4, diverge from their closed ends 3. It will be noted that, at the closed end 3, the side members 2 are spaced apart sufiiciently to prevent pinching of material placed therebetween. The depth of the side members 2 from their guiding edges 4 to the closed edge or fold 3 may be of desired dimensions. Thus, five-eights of an inch today is a very popular distance from which to position the basting stitches. Therefore, the depth of the side member 2 could well be approximately five-eighths of an inch. However, it may well be that, for certain purposes, it is desired to place the basting stitches at less than five-eighths of an inch from the free edges of the material. Therefore, I provide one end of each of the side members with a V-shaped notch 5, whereby to provide aligned secondary guiding edges 6 which are parallel to the guiding edges .4. The guiding edges 6 may likewise be any desired distance from PATENT OFFICE the fold 3 such, for instance, as a quarter of an inch.

In use, my novel device is placed, as indicated in Fig. 2, between the thumb and forefinger of the non-sewing hand of the user and the device placed over the material to be basted, with the opposite sides 2 thereof stradding the folds of material A and with the free edges B of the material received within the fold 3. Slight pressure is then exerted by the user on the opposite sides 2 so as to clamp the materia1 A therebetween as shown in Fig. 3. The needle is thereafter caused to penetrate the material A along either one of the guiding edges ll or 6, depending upon whether a five-eighths or quarter of an inch basting is desired. As the sewing progresses, the operator merely releases the pressure normally on the side members 2 and advances the guide I a desired distance, at which time pressure is again exerted thereon. It will be noted that my device is very short longitudinally, and, in fact, the length thereof corresponds roughly to that of the thumb of the operator. Thus, while my device has sufiicient length to permit easy handling, it is sufficiently short to permit use thereof on scallops, flutes, or other designs in the material, without variations in the distance of the basting stitches from the side edges of the material.

My invention has been thoroughly tested and found to be completely satisfactory for accomplishment of the above objects; and, while I have disclosed a commercial form of my invention, it should be obvious that the same is capable of modification without departure from the spirit and scope of the appended claim.

What I claim is:

A basting guide comprising a generally rectangular sheet of resilient material folded upon itself in U-shape to provide short straight side members which diverge from said fold and are adapted to receive therebetween fabric to be basted, the free edge portions of said opposing side members opposite the fold being equally spaced therefrom and cooperating to form needleguiding means on opposite sides of the fabric, said side members being movable toward one another under pressure of an operators fingers whereby to clamp said fabric therebetween.

HAZEL E. C'I-IRISTENSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 970,586 Whitaker Sept. 20, 1910 1,505,677 Sullivan Aug. 19, 1924 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 616,153 Germany July 20, 1935, 

